The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News March 4, 2005

Dye hosts a student forum
Students bring concerns to College president

Only days before the General Faculty were scheduled to vote on the strategic plan, students had the opportunity to voice their questions and concerns at a student forum with President Nancy Dye, Acting Vice President of Financial Affairs Ron Watts and Interim Dean of Students Linda Gates.

The forum, sponsored by the Student Senate, was designed to give students the freedom to speak candidly about issues that were of particular importance to them. However, Dye came prepared to speak mainly about the long-term sustainability of Oberlin’s environment, financial situation and strategic plan.

Regarding the environment, Dye began by reassuring students that the College was working towards executing more than 100 recommendations made three years ago by the Environmental Protection Agency. This could be successful, she explained, by continuing to meet with student groups on campus such as EPIG (Environmental Public Interest Group) and also by appointing a campus coordinator to oversee the implementation.

She also discussed the causes and effects of so many students bringing their cars onto Oberlin’s campus. She said that while she understood that some students drive home for school vacations in lieu of paying travel expenses, there are alternatives worth investigating.

“I’m told Greyhound busses used to come over from Elyria and tickets would be sold at Wilder, and students have responded well to this idea,” said Dye.

Dye also responded to specific concerns outlined within the strategic plan, beginning by saying “we need a strategic plan that identifies specific priorities to gain support and excite donors.”

One issue brought up was that of “curricular verticality,” a term referring to the desire to introduce more structure and research opportunities into the College curriculum. Dye said that curricular verticality will “inspire confidence and hone intellectual skills.”

Another was in response to the gradual reduction in the size of the faculty.

“We’re not talking about removing professors,” Dye said. “Over the next four to five years, we will probably have 25 retirements, some resignations and we won’t be offering as many tenure positions.”

The strategic plan also suggests the pressing need to enroll more “full-paying” students due to its current state of financial difficulty, due in part to its unusually generous dispensation of financial aid. Many students are concerned that the reduction of financial aid grants will ultimately pay a toll on the socioeconomic and ethnic diversity of the student body, though Dye insisted that she “is very confident that it can work. If Oberlin was a bit smaller and the proportions were the same, we could still have a very robust economic spectrum. I don’t think students will notice the difference.”

Dye added, quoting the president of a peer institution, that “of all of the colleges with socioeconomic distributions, Oberlin has the best.”

Students then turned their attention to study abroad opportunities, now under close scrutiny following the suspension of the Danenberg Oberlin-In-London program. One student expressed concern about having to pay small fees to transfer credit hours from one institution over to Oberlin, to which Dye expressed regret: “Do I wish that we didn’t have to do this? Yes.”

Another student wondered if the College should not subsidize students’ expenses when they choose to study abroad. Watts, speaking to the gravity of the College’s financial crisis, stated, “We need to reduce how much money leaves the institution to support on-campus projects.”

Dye emphasized the financial burden of particular international study away programs, which ultimately led to the administration’s decision to temporarily halt the London program.

“We need to be able to say ‘we’re not hurting the institution by sponsoring this program,’” she said.

The student forum concluded with more discussion over the strategic plan and how it will play an important role in fostering the growth of Oberlin as an institution.

“Oberlin has never been generic, has never been ‘a fine college,’” said Dye. “There has always been perceptions of and attitudes towards Oberlin that need to be addressed.”

Finally, Dye spoke all at once to the College’s financial dilemmas, its goal to improve its general reputation, and its struggle to maintain its spirit even in the midst of this year’s enormous changes.

“If we sold all our artwork, we would receive millions of dollars and shoot up to the top of the U.S. News and World Report rankings,” she said. Then she asked, “but would we have improved our institution, or impoverished it?”
 
 

   


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